TraegerMethod Podcast

Episode 47 Jason catches up with his ex-wife, Los Angeles raised, former Olympia punk, now fellow Portlander Star Athena . The two talk about Star's experience growing up in Los Angeles. Raised in a westside apartment down the hall from Punky Meadows , frontman of Casablanca recording artists Angel. Her brother Heath played in many LA bands, doing a stint with Angry Samoans among others .  Sh...

TM pod 46 is a first for the podcast in three ways: it is the first episode recorded with a guest face to face, it’s the first one recorded outdoors and it’s the first time Jason has talked with singer, writer, podcaster, and OG Riot Grrrl Allison Wolfe . The two old friends cover her formative years in Olympia, where they met in the mid 90’s. They explore Allison’s multi-decade, ongoing run front...

Episode 45: Jason speaks with acclaimed writer, musician and martial artist Eugene S. Robinson . Listeners will recall his previous appearance on TM pod ep. 38 which explored the enigmatic late 80’s/early 90’s bay area Rollins doppelgänger Mark Sperry . This time Jason focuses on Eugene’s incredible life story: his days as a kid coming of age on the gang dominated streets of Brooklyn, his teen yea...

Episode 44 is a conversation with Los Angeles based writer, stand-up comic, competitive kettle-bell athlete and old school East Bay punk (via Arkansas) Bucky Sinister . The conversation begins by revisiting a subject explored in prior episodes, the late 80’s / early 90’s SF Henry Rollins-doppelganger Mark Sperry, who was a friend of his in that period. He offers insight and shares his admiration f...

This week Jason talks with TM pod regular, Pete Chramiec about the recently announced Verbal Assault reunion shows scheduled to take place Sept. 2021 in New England. Pete shares his concern that the newly surging Covid-19 Delta Variant may lead to the postponement of the dates but as of now they are very much a go. He talks about his recent trip back east to practice with the band and how much fun...

This week Jason talks with Fernando ‘Ferny’ Cruz Jr. about his formative musical years with San Diego (more specifically Chula Vista) hardcore madmen Run For Your Fucking Life. The band cut a swath of music and mayhem through endless house parties, desert generator shows and clubs from 1994-2001. The 2019 passing of their beloved singer Jason Weedon has inspired the remaining members to reissue th...

The last time this week’s guest Brian Walsby and Jason talked was in December of 1985 at a show in Northridge after Brian took an impromptu turn as the singer for The Descendents when Milo was delayed making it up from San Diego where he was going to college. This conversation is the two catching up on everything that has happened in their lives in the subsequent 36 years since that evening, leavi...

Episode 40: Jason catches up with legendary west coast punk rock photographer Alison Braun about her prolific work capturing the fire and fury of So Cal punk in the 80’s and Seattle metal/grunge at the beginning of the next decade. Her photographs published under her punk nickname ‘Mouse’ were a ubiquitous sight in the pages of MRR and Flipside and can be found on many classic record sleeves and i...

TM pod 39 is a conversation with Jason's old friend since teenage years, San Diego punk and fellow Leading Edge fanzine maker Greg Lipman. The two talk about Greg’s life as an expat in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam where he has made his home for the past decade. He describes what life has been like through the Covid-19 epidemic and what its like today under lockdown as the country deals with the arriva...

Episode 38 is a BONUS companion follow-up further exploring the mystery of late 80’s / early 90’s Bay Area writer, spoken word artist, musician and Rollins doppelgänger Mark Sperry . A topic introduced in episode 36 by Jason and guest Martin Sprouse . It seems the two are not alone in their enduring fascination with the lengths Sperry went to in that era to fully adopt the style, attitude, sound a...

Jason speaks with producer Erin Yanke about the 'It Did happen Here' podcast, a documentary pod about the battles waged in the wake of the 1988 murder of Ethiopian immigrant Mulugeta Seraw to liberate Portland Oregon from the terror inflicted on the punk scene and the broader community by neo-nazi skinheads.  Erin tells us about how she came to work on the project with co-producers/hosts Mic...

TM pod has the WORLD EXCLUSIVE interview with Martin Sprouse (@3chordpolitics) aka "The Elon Musk Billboard Guy". Jason talks with him about going hugely viral last week and his subsequent stonewalling of all press contact. Funny stuff. The two go on to talk about the early 80's SF band Crucifix , the mysteriously underwhelmed reaction they and the world have had toward recent US government admiss...

TM pod 35 Jason talks with music and culture writer Tony Rettman about his life and work.  The story starts in Trenton with a 11 year old Tony being drafted into punk by his older brother who was a DJ at the city's legendary City Gardens venue. From there he branches out to nearby Philly and NY to explore those scenes and most importantly in his telling to buy as many records and zines as he...

This week Jason talks with Tobi Vail about her life in music and activism.  Tobi's story starts with her teenage parents taking her to the Tenino Rock Festival in 1969 when she was six weeks old and it only get wilder from there!  LINKS: Tobi's band GSP have a soon to be released LP on Thrilling Living Records. Bikini Kill will be touring extensively in 2022. Pussy Riot's Maria 'Masha' A...

Episode 33 is a free form conversation between the real-life tight bros from way back when: Sean, Quitty and Jason. Serious TM pod listeners can try to spot all the references to the Derek Tape the trio make as they talk about life, love and Gene Simmons' wig. Thanks for listening! Music: TM theme by Jason Closing music by Behead the prophet NLSL.

This is a very special short episode of TM pod. This week Jason talks about a marbles-like game called 'Gears' that was passed down through generations of kids in the 70's at his elementary school in Kenmore Washington. He also remembers a fantasy he had as a child of a computer in the woods behind the school. Thank you for listening and supporting the podcast!

Episode 31 is a conversation with Los Angeles based stand-up comic, writer, actor and podcaster Amy Miller . The two met over a decade ago after Amy relocated from the Bay Area to Portland and the two became fast friends, sharing countless comedy stages and green rooms around the Pacific Northwest. It was only after they'd gotten to know one another that they discovered they may have also breathed...

Episode 30 is an addendum to Episode 29. It is The Derek Tape in its entirety.  WARNING: This conversation is peppered with offensive language and threats of violence. 'The Derek Tape' was made in Los Angeles in 1993. It is a 43 minute long recording of a phone conversation between stoned record store employee Kurt and one of his frequent customers, heavy metal/hard rock obsessed maniac Derek...

Episode 29 is a first for the TM Pod in several ways: It is the first appearance of Jon 'Quitty' Quittner, the first featuring multiple guests and the first  dedicated to a specific subject rather than a look at a guest's biography. The subject: 'The Derek Tape' 'The Derek Tape' was made in Los Angeles in 1993. It is a 43 minute long recording of a phone conversation between stoned record sto...

This episode Jason speaks with archivist/artist/healer/historian Margarat Nee both about her life coming of age as a punk girl at the cusp of the 1980's in North County San Diego and about her work today documenting the era with her ongoing project the San Diego Punk Archive .  The two attended the same Encinitas High School five years apart. Margarat shares tales of San Dieguito she says she...

Episode 27 is conversation between Jason and his high school friend Mark MacFarlane.  The two recently began trading DM's on instagram after Mark reached out in response to the TM podcast. This conversation is the first time they have spoken since the last day of school 1985. In catching up Mark shares sometimes funny and sometimes gory stories about his years flying Blackhawk helicopters for...

Episode 26 is a conversation between Jason and his old friend Walter Glaser. A Bay Area punk, Walter was the longtime MaximumRockNRoll cassette reviewer and the face on the cover of the influential Gilman Street Project 2x7” comp ‘ Turn It Around '. He might protest but a case could be made that this appearance makes him the honorary ‘Face of Gilman Geek-Core’. What is ‘ Geek-Core ’ you might ask?...

Episode 25 is a conversation with artist, musician, photographer and host Jason’s dear friend Tae Won Yu . The two met in the fertile scene that was Olympia, WA in the early 90’s and immediately bonded over their shared devotion to music, art and the creative process, though their paths to that meeting couldn’t have been more different. Jason’s move to Olympia was a return to his home in the Pacif...

Episode 24 is an interview with filmmaker Scott Crawford, director of DC punk documentary Salad Days and Boy Howdy: The Story of Creem Magazine. The conversation starts with Scott’s punk rock biography beginning with his stint as a post-pubescent zine maker in the DC scene of the early 80’s and moves through to his forthcoming project; a documentary film about Canadian punk pioneers DOA and frontm...

Episode 23 is a conversation with Eddie Joseph of early Orange County hardcore/punk/new wave pioneers Eddie and the Subtitles . Already a veteran of the Haight-Ashbury ‘Summer of Love’ scene that had fizzled out a decade earlier, he was in his early 30’s as the first wave of LA/OC punk splashed over from the 70’s into the 80’s. Not only did he write and perform one of the most iconic songs of the...